Vintage Made Modern, purveyor of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Jun. 20, 2013

Newly-opened Vintage Made Modern in downtown Greenville is the only Upstate retailer of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which turns old furniture into repurposed gems. The paint is popular because it has a low content of volatile organic compounds. The owner of Vintage Made Modern, Lindsey Oehmen, attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. / RICHARD SHIRO/Contributor

Written by

Staff writer

Repainting a piece of furniture doesn’t have to take all weekend — it might not even require sandpaper or a special trip to the hardware store.

You have Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to thank for that. The patented furniture-refinishing product invented by British designer Annie Sloan is everywhere in the DIY home blogs these days, and it’s not hard to see why.

“There’s no stripping, sanding or priming, and so you literally just clean whatever you’re about to paint and start painting,” said Lindsey Oehmen, owner of Vintage Made Modern.

The store on East Washington Street, which opened in March, is the area’s only retailer of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. The former hair salon is now bursting with different colors and textures, a mix of country and chic, vintage and modern. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Thrift-store chairs have been reupholstered in a delicate toile. But the spotlight is on the shelves of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and its companion, Annie Sloan Soft Wax, that go hand in hand to create professional, almost foolproof, results.

“You can pretty much paint anything,” Oehmen says. “You can even paint fabric. Everything that you can do with it, it’s an amazing product.”

Part of the ease is in the secret formula. It’s water-based, and very low levels of volatile organic compounds (or VOCs) mean it’s also odorless and eco-friendly. The color palette is inspired by 18th- and 20th-century decor and design, with names like Emperors Silk and Barcelona Orange. A soft pink is called Antoinette, a grass green goes by Versailles. The paints can then be mixed to extend the range of colors.

Vintage Made Modern also offers beginner’s workshops that teach five basic painting techniques. Finishes change depending on the kind of brush or wax — which gives the Chalk Paint durability and patina — you use. A little water makes the paint smoother; more turns it into a wash.

Oehmen’s customers have ranged from teenage girls who want to change the look of their childhood furniture to DIY-ers who have turned painting furniture into a living.

Everyone who comes in “gets a full education on Annie Sloan,” she says.

The store also offers design consulting, a custom color mixing area and the latest collection of Annie Sloan fabrics, along with finished DIY projects that are for sale or can be used as a little inspiration.